Chapter one (TWDL)
Beta Read by: Pippy May of FFnet I suppose I should begin my story with when I left Britain to study. I had just defeated an unimpressive wannabe Dark Lord and had realized that Dumbledore was a living barrier against such people. They lived in fear of his power and ability, so I left to get stronger; I needed the same level of power and ability to replace him as that living barrier. It was both the wisest and most idiotic thing I ever did. When I returned twenty years later, I discovered that so many things were lies. My parents? Alive, well, and in hiding. They even had more children. They had hidden most of the Potter wealth from me, they abandoned me to suffer, only caring about their own lives. Dumbledore had even faked his death and left the world to fight Riddle without his aid, the coward. My "friend" Ron claimed that I was a coward and had left in fear. Hermione, well, she exposed the lie, but most believed Ron. In the midst of all this, Voldemort's daughter Delphini decided to act against me. For some reason, she felt the need to wait and then cause trouble, I defeated her with laughable ease. Dumbledore did speak out in support of me and Hermione. He salvaged our reputations, though I'll never thank him. When I returned, my power, which surpassed that of Voldemort, was feared by Ron. He called me a budding Dark Lord. I still had an amazing secret, though. When Tom died, I somehow acquired his knowledge, skill, and experience. I suppose that does make me a Dark Lord, technically. I left to master lighter, more benevolent magic. Except, at the time I had returned, I was just as light as I was dark. I spent decades doing research. I was plotting the appropriate revenge against Dumbledore and my parents. I traced back my genealogy and claimed lordships for House le Fay, Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, and Peverell. My parents contested it and I had them publicly take the same trials I underwent. They were pronounced unworthy above all others. They were publicly humiliated. I used the knowledge of Morgana le Fay and attained near immortality. I enjoyed the best part of my revenge, living mostly a good life, for decades and eventually centuries. But my centuries of life is a story best fully told another time. And then the idiots of Britain elected Ron Weasley as Minister. His first act was to label me a Dark Lord and try having me arrested. I injured the Aurors that attacked me because they were people I considered friends, but I attacked Ron Weasley and killed him. I warned the Ministry not to seek revenge for the death of a budding tyrant. They disobeyed. We fought for decades. I won, and absorbed enough magic to triple my power. As I reflect back over my life, it's the year 2500. I have lived a long and unfulfilling life. Most of my time was spent studying, bettering myself, and sleeping around. The results speak for themselves: I am The Greatest Wizard of all Time. I have mastered every skill I have ever tried. I hold masteries in Dark Arts, Potions, Transfiguration, Charms, DADA, Arithmancy, Alchemy, Wandlore, Herbology, and History of Magic. After centuries of being harassed by my annoying family, who feel they're entitled to everything, I finally became a hermit and began planning. I decided to relive my life. And this time, I would live on my own terms and use my foreknowledge to take everything I desired. I refused to ever be miserable again. I refused to conform to others' ideals, I'll be myself and the wizarding world can deal with it. Should they disapprove, I had power equal to that of Merlin, so I would make them approve. Now I would take my trip to July 24th, 1991. I focused on the day and location, month and year, and disappeared from Castle le Fay. I arrived at Number 4 Privet Drive, rendered myself intangible and entered the house. I placed silencing charms near the cupboard and extracted my younger self from it. I wandlessly and silently transferred my soul into my younger self's body. I awoke in my younger self's body and dragged it into the kitchen. I began drawing runes for a ritual of sacrifice. When I finished, I placed seven drops of blood on each directional point. I finished minutes later and placed my old body into the circle. "Potentiam tuam accipio, ut mihi," I said. I passed out, but remained aware. I felt my former abilities enter into my younger body. The strength and endurance of Giants and Trolls, the speed of the numerous animals I sacrificed. Oh yes, I was glad I planned this out in detail. Now I could repeat the rituals to augment myself further. I vanished the signs of the ritual and the dust from my old body. I quickly removed The Trace from myself and took up my old wand. I used my mastery of Soul Magic and Magical Manipulation to merge the two souls and magical cores. I quickly healed the minor damage to my body. I teleported to the gates of le Fay Castle. When I arrived, I placed my hand near the beak of the bird on the gate. It bit me and drew a blood sample. I healed the wound and glared at the bird. The gate opened and I calmly entered, the gate closed behind me. I walked to the castle front door and was greeted by the residual essence of Morgana le Fay. "Hello, Morgana le Fay. I'm your descendant," I said, to her amusement. "No, really?" She asked sarcastically. "I seek your blessing to take up the le Fay lordship again," I said, to her confusion. "Once you search my mind, it will all make sense," I said, before making my mind vulnerable to her. She delved into my mind. When she withdrew several minutes later, she knew my entire life story. "Impressive, Hadrian. You have my blessing, follow me: the ring is in the vault." She willed open the front door and I followed her inside and up a few flights of stairs. We arrived at the master bedroom and entered. "You know where it is," Morgana said with a smile. I calmly walked to the wall where the painting of her mother was. I opened it with wandless magic. The painting disappeared and revealed a safe, I placed my hand on it and it cut into my palm. I removed my hand and healed it while the safe opened. I removed the ring and placed it on the next to smallest finger on my left hand. It resized itself to fit. "Congratulations, Lord le Fay," Morgana said with a smile. "Be sure to make the lives of those embarrassments to my bloodline a living hell." "Oh, I will," I said with a smirk. "I'll let you go and re-acquire your other Lordships. Do you intend to make the castle your home once more?" Morgana said. "I do. That time chamber is very helpful. I'll see you then, goodbye," I said, before I teleported to the gates of the "lost" Peverell Castle. When I arrived, I repeated the blood testing process, and allowed myself to bitten by thestral, and entered the property. When I finally neared the castle front door, I was greeted by the residual essences of Ignotus and Cadmus Peverell. "Greetings, young wizard," Ignotus said. "I take it you're here to attempt to claim the lost Peverell Lordship?" "I am. I have already done so, in another time-line. Ancestor; my father, another of your descendants, abandoned me and faked his death. The entire family spent their lives harassing me and seeking to overturn your future selves' will by trying to force me into surrendering the Lordship," I said, to the anger of Ignotus, whose eyes glowed. Cadmus seemed just as angry. "Cadmus, your descendant Tom Marvolo Riddle, also known as the Dark Lord Voldemort, turned your family artifact into a Horcrux. Well, the ring it was placed in anyway," I said, enraging him. I made my mind vulnerable to them. "I don't expect you both to believe the words of a stranger, however; you may search my mind with Legilimency to confirm my claims," I said and Ignotus promptly did so. "I'm not a Legilimens, but I trust my brother," Cadmus said when Ignotus finished. "It's all true. Your descendant created seven horcruxes. Hadrian here can destroy them all in record time and he plans to do so. He has my support. What say you, Cadmus?" Ignotus said. "I, too, support him. Let's get our young heir on his way," Cadmus said. They both nodded and opened the door. The lordship ring flew to me and levitated in front of me. I took it, and placed it on my middle finger. It resized itself to fit. "Good luck," they said in unison, and disappeared. I closed the door with magic and teleported to the gates of Gryffindor Castle. When I arrived, I mentally prepared myself. I thought I might have to deceive Godric Gryffindor. I decided to get it over with and I repeated the blood testing process. After completing the annoying, slightly painful process, I entered the Castle Grounds and began my trek to the front door. When I arrived, many minutes later, I encountered the essence of Godric Gryffindor. "Hello, Master Gryffindor," I said respectfully. "Hello, young wizard. I take it you have come to claim the lordship," He said, inspecting me critically. "I have. I recently traveled back to this time and I need its resources to battle a Dark Lord," I said, to Godric's interest. "Last time, the war occurred; there were thousands of casualties and it was a struggle, due to poor leadership from the leader of the light side. The Dark Lord is a descendant of Salazar Slytherin and he created seven horcruxes," I said, enraging Godric. I was secretly glad that casual mention achieved the desired result. "I will pass on the lordship to you," he said, to my surprise. "You have demonstrated courage, daring, and nerve by coming back in time. You did so to make the world a better place. I do advise you to conquer Slytherin House and control its influence," Godric said. The ring appeared in front of me and Godric gave me a nod. I placed it on my index finger and it resized to fit perfectly. I acquired the lordship in under two minutes with a half-truth. "With this ring you have influence greater than a Headmaster. It also gives you several other privileges: private rooms, the ability to give or take points, all privileges of a headmaster, a vote on the Hogwarts Board of Governors, with veto power. You can even remove privileges from teachers. If you get a majority share-hold of the school you can dismiss or appoint members of the board, or even abolish the board in its entirety," Godric explained, though I already knew all of that. "I'm a descendant of Rowena too," I said in amusement. "Good, then you'll be closer to controlling Hogwarts," Godric said. "Yes, I will. I'll need to undo the damage ineptitude has done," I said, to his concern. "The Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher position is cursed and the history class has a ghost teaching. The ghost puts people to sleep in class. It hasn't produced any masters in centuries," I said, though I omitted telling him of my mastery. I achieved it with self-study anyway. "A good plan. It saddens me to hear the state Hogwarts has fallen to. I'll let you continue your re-acquisition of your Lordships. You can also summon us at Hogwarts, in more tangible and combat capable forms," Godric said. I wish I'd known that last time around, I could have used them as soldiers and saved a lot of lives. "Great! I may do so in the future. And I do need to go. I'd like all my former political influence back before sunrise." "Good luck, and goodbye my heir," Godric said, before fading away. I teleported to Ravenclaw Castle. When I arrived moments later, I quickly let the Raven bite me to test my blood. I healed the injury as the gates opened. I used my ritual enhanced speed and arrived at the Castle door in seconds. When I arrived I saw Rowena Ravenclaw waiting. "Hello, Master Ravenclaw," I said respectfully. She eyed me critically. "Hello," she said coldly. "You're here to lay claim to the lordship, I suppose?" She asked. She didn't seem very impressed by me. "I am. I just recently arrived back in this time, using Chronomancy. I decided to reclaim all my previous titles," I said, trying to impress her. "Impressive. Chronomancy is an extremely difficult skill to master, most can only travel hours. So, why did you time-travel? I assume it was still frowned upon in the future." "By the year 2500 it was a lost art, replaced with powerful artifacts that enable time-travel. As for the question of 'why', quite simply, my mother, your descendant, and my father James made my life a living hell. In the future, they even tried forcing me to surrender the Ravenclaw lordship to one of their spoiled brats. I had no reason to stay in that time. I kept getting slandered by idiots who called me a dark lord; I doubt most of them could spell 'dark lord'." I said, before pausing. "That, coupled with the fact that I can prevent so much pointless death and destruction motivated me to time-travel. The senile old man who currently mismanages Hogwarts ruined it, my life, and the war effort last time. He wasn't proactive, effective, or willing to do all that is necessary. In short, I've returned to fix this world, and everyone will just have to deal with it," I said, somewhat angrily. "How is he mismanaging Hogwarts?" Rowena questioned. "He's removed several classes, allowed a ghost to teach history, hasn't even bothered to try removing a curse on another position, he put bait for a dark lord in the school, put a dangerous artifact where anyone can find it, and a dangerous beast where first years could stumble across it and get mauled or worse. He seems content to sit back and let events happen, even allowing students to be petrified and even die. He's done all this, while people call him light and a good Headmaster." I said, causing Rowena to become increasingly angrier. "This curse, I suppose it hinders the quality of education?" Rowena asked. I nodded yes. "What was this 'bait' he used?" "A Philosophers Stone. Contained in a mirror that traps you by showing you your greatest desire. It was stored where students could find it before being moved." I began to realize that she was interrogating me. "What was the dangerous beast?" "A Cerberus, which could be accessed with a first year spell." "How were students petrified?" "Slytherin's Basilisk was unleashed by his descendant, a dark lord. They only saw its reflection," I said, to her rage, which she quickly suppressed. "How did students die?" "One died in the 1940s by looking the Basilisk in the eyes. Another died due to a killing curse from the same descendant and dark lord." She seemed satisfied by my answers. "Very well, you have my blessing. You are, of course, expected to remove these threats. I do apologize for the questioning. I was merely making sure you were telling the truth," she said, though she didn't sound apologetic. The lordship ring appeared in front of me and I placed it on my littlest finger. It resized itself to fit. "I'll let you go collect your other lordships," Rowena said before disappearing. I decided to teleport back to Privet Drive and nap until my "family" woke me up. When I arrived, I placed a silencing charm on my feet and walked up to Dudley's bedroom. When I was near the door, I rendered myself intangible and entered. I quickly cast a Sterility Curse on him and left. I went to Vernon and Petunia's room next. I entered it same as I did Dudley's room. I quickly cast sterility and impotence curses on Vernon. I sterilized Petunia, too. I teleported into my cupboard with a pleased smile. When I arrived, I willed myself to sleep. While I no longer needed sleep, due to a few rituals, I could still choose to sleep some. Sometimes it was just too hard to fill the hours with interesting activities. I had somehow resisted the urge to outright kill the Dursleys. So far, I had taken ten years of life from Vernon and Petunia and reduced poor "Dudders" lifespan by half. I just pocketed my letter from Hogwarts and began walking back to the kitchen. I set the mail down near Vernon and cast a spell on Vernon, Dudley, and Petunia. I checked the letter for spells and found none. I teleported to Castle le Fay. When I arrived in the master bedroom, I stored the letter in the side table. I quickly found a piece of rubbish and ripped the soul fragment from my forehead while blocking the pain with magic. I grabbed the piece of rubbish and teleported to the ritual room. When I arrived, I began drawing a heptagram with runes at each corner. When I finished, I placed seven drops of blood at each of the seven corners. I modified the ritual so I only get bloodline abilities. "Potentiam tuam accipio, ut mihi." I said calmly. I passed out but remained aware. When I awoke, I decided that I should claim two of the three hallows. "I, Lord Peverell, Head of the Most Ancient and Noble House of Peverell, hereby claim the allegiance of the Elder Wand and Cloak of Invisibility and strip all others of their false claims to my property," I said calmly, making sure I got the words right. The Wand and Cloak appeared in my outstretched hands. I stripped down and walked to the bathroom. I spent five minutes memorizing my malnourished body. I concentrated on my magic, let it fill my body and transform me into my Magimagus form: A Dark Phoenix. This form was a symbol of my corrupted and lost purity. It had black and gold plumage, and a golden beak and talons, with green eyes. I willed myself to burst into flames and I did, a burst of black flames. I really should have positioned a book near me to read. Oh well. I have only myself to blame.